12 TV Shows to Look for at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival

Thanks to titles like Manchester by the Sea, Weiner, and Southside With You, 2016 was a great year for movies at the Sundance Film Festival. But it was arguably an even better year for TV, as such acclaimed series like Starz’s The Girlfriend Experience and Hulu’s 11.22.63 played to their first audiences in Park City, Utah. Sundance was also the launching pad for one of the year’s most celebrated works in either film or television: ESPN’s mammoth seven-hour docuseries, O.J.: Made in America, which made numerous year-end top 10 lists (including Ken Tucker’s of Yahoo TV) and is poised to earn an Oscar nod for Best Documentary Feature when nominations are announced on Jan. 24. “We opened our eyes to allow more television,” festival director John Cooper told Yahoo TV last year. “It’s been growing very organically. The creators lead, and we try to provide the best platform we can.”

Related: Red Carpet Flashback! 2002 Sundance Film Festival

That platform will continue to expand over the course of Sundance’s 2017 edition, which runs from Jan. 19-29. This year, the festival is hosting screenings for a pair of high-profile network TV shows, as well as an assortment of docuseries, Web series, and promising pilots looking for a channel and/or streaming service to call home. Here are the 12 TV projects to keep your eye on during and after Sundance.

Abstract: The Art of Design (Premieres Feb. 10 on Netflix)

In the tradition of Netflix’s hit cooking-themed series Chef’s Table, Abstract provides an in-depth look at some of the men and women who design the spaces, sights, and even sneakers that we see in the world around us. Each of the show’s eight installments focuses on the work of one celebrated designer — from Air Jordan guru Tinker Hatfield to illustrator Christoph Niemann — whose episode will premiere in Park City.

Downward Dog (Premieres midseason on ABC)

Allison Tolman took her time choosing a follow-up to her breakout turn as Molly Solverson on the first season of the FX hit Fargo. But the wait has paid off with Downward Dog, an inventive adaptation of a popular Web series. Tolman plays Nan, a newly single woman who has thrown herself into work since her breakup with Jason (Lucas Neff). The separation hasn’t just affected her — it’s also wreaking havoc on the once-idyllic life enjoyed by her faithful dog, Martin (voiced by series co-creator, Samm Hodges). The pilot is a strong beginning, and Sundance will screen three additional episodes, followed by a Q&A with Tolman and other key members of the cast and crew, including, we assume, the dog(s) playing Martin.

Gente-fied (Premieres TBA)

Gentrification: It’s not just for Brooklyn, anymore! America Ferrera executive produced, co-wrote, and appears in this short-form Web series set in the rapidly changing L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The area’s demographic shift from a largely Latino population to one that includes young, white hipsters is depicted over the course of seven episodes from the perspective of seven different Boyle Heights residents.

The History of Comedy (Premieres Feb. 9 at 9 p.m. on CNN)

Having previously presented decade-by-decade histories of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s over the past three years, CNN now gets serious about the past, present, and future of comedy. Overseen by a team of directors that includes Will & Grace star Sean Hayes, the eight-chapter History of Comedy spans Ancient Greece to modern-day Hollywood and speaks with such luminaries as Larry David in its quest to answer the age-old question: “What’s so funny?” The Sundance premiere will consist of two episodes: “Spark of Madness,” devoted to comics who traffic in darker subject matter, and “Going Blue,” which explores the thin line between hilarious and offensive and profiles the comedians — like Lenny Bruce — who gleefully cross it.

Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On (Premieres Spring 2017 on Netflix)

Two years ago, Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones traveled to Park City to introduce audiences to a documentary she co-produced chronicling young women’s experiences in the pornography industry. She’s returning in 2017 with her directorial debut “Women on Top,” one of several episodes in the Hot Girls Wanted spinoff series, Turned On, which explores love and sex in the digital age. Jones’s episode specifically looks at the female performers and directors who are striving to make porn that empowers, rather than exploits, women.

I Love Dick (Premieres TBA on Amazon Prime)

Transparent creator Jill Soloway and her frequent muse, Kathryn Hahn, premiered the pilot for their second Amazon series on the streaming service back in August to strong reviews. They’re bringing that episode, plus two additional half-hours, to Sundance, along with co-stars Griffin Dunne and Kevin Bacon, who respectively portray Hahn’s husband and the rugged object of her affection. Filmed on location in Marfa, Texas, the series retains Soloway’s expertise in creating incisive character portraits that are both compelling and slightly cringe-inducing.

Playdates (Premieres TBA)

With apologies to DJ Jazzy Jeff, parents will understand the challenges confronting husband-and-wife team Bennett and Julie (Paul Scheer and Carla Gallo). Freshly transplanted from Chicago to L.A., the duo confront the peculiarities of California culture while making sure their young kids remain well-adjusted in the land of sunshine and snobbery. Screened as part of the Independent Pilot Showcase for TV pilots seeking pickups, Playdates should allow Scheer the opportunity to explore the serio-comic territory his former Human Giant collaborators, Rob Huebel and Aziz Ansari, are successfully navigating on Transparent and Master of None, respectively.

Rise (Premieres Jan. 27 on Viceland)

Viceland’s latest docuseries gives full-throated voice to Native American activists seeking to protect their lands and culture. Among the three episodes screening at Sundance is “Sacred Water,” which directly addresses the ongoing Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Expect that controversy to return to the headlines after President-elect Trump takes office.

Shots Fired (Premieres Mar. 22 on Fox)

Husband-and-wife team Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood are behind the camera for Fox’s answer to ABC’s acclaimed crime anthology, American Crime. After the shooting of a white college student by a black police officer inflames racial tensions in a North Carolina town, a Department of Justice investigator (Sanaa Lathan) and a special prosecutor (Stephan James) are tasked with handling not only that case, but also a past tragedy involving another potentially race-related murder. Stephen Moyer, Richard Dreyfus, and Helen Hunt are also among the ensemble of the 10-episode event series.

Strangers (Premieres in 2017 on Refinery29)

If only we had a Rolodex of houseguests this cool; fresh off a breakup and stuck in a directionless late-20s existence, Isobel (Zoe Chao) rents out her spare room to visitors played by the likes of Jemima Kirke, Shiri Appleby, and Langston Kerman. And when she’s not trying to make those strangers her friends, she’s striving to open her own professional and personal horizons. After all, who says you’re too old to experience a coming-of-age story when you’re pushing 30?

Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Premieres in 2017 on Spike TV)

Spike TV gets into the long-form documentary game with a six-episode series that’s part Serial and part The Night Of. When he was 16 years old, Bronx native Kalief Browder was falsely accused of stealing a backpack and spent three years in the harsh conditions of Rikers Island despite not being convicted of a crime. Executive produced by Jay Z and directed by Jenner Furst, Time chronicles this miscarriage of justice, which came to a tragic end with Browder’s suicide in 2015.

When the Street Lights Go On (Premieres TBA)

Stranger Things fans, here’s your next ’80s throwback obsession, albeit one that channels David Lynch rather than John Carpenter. Set in a small town in Illinois in 1983, the pilot for this proposed series — a Paramount Television and Anonymous Content co-production that is currently looking for a home — opens with the brutal murder of the high school’s most popular cheerleader and her older lover. The tendrils of that incident spread outward from there, touching everyone from an aspiring journalist to the town bad boy. Director Brett Morgen effectively weaves touches of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet into an investigation-driven narrative that’s strongly Serial-ized. The best thing you can say about Street Lights is that when the first episode ends, you’ll immediately want to binge the next two, three, or 10 chapters.